The power of the space bar

Backstage, a laptop running Showtime: the show’s run sheet on the left, and what the current stage does on the right. Showtime. Laptop running Showtime A small comedy club stage, with a brick back wall, a high stool, a mic, and the audience at cabaret tables. The laptop running Showtime, shown to the left, is linked to four moving-head lights, the speakers, two TVs with Chromecasts, one showing the club’s logo while an act is on, a cue screen facing the act, and a Sony a7C camera in the audience, pointing at the stage. Each press of the space bar moves the show to its next stage. DRINK SPECIALS Pint and a shotHouse cocktailSoft drinks £8£7£2.50 Chromecast Chromecast Tracking Show 1A2B Comedy Night, 8:00 PM DMX lights TV 1 TV 2 Speakers iPad cue screen, facing the act Camera Sony a7C

Audio

Upload a playlist of MP3s, or trigger your existing music software. Showtime can dip the audio to play pre-recorded announcements.

  • The laptop plugs into your house mixer through a standard 3.5mm cable, or an audio interface.
  • Use Showtime for some or all of your music.
  • Use a MIDI controller for physical cue buttons.

Visuals

Have complete control of a venue TV or projector. Either through an HDMI cable from your laptop, or wirelessly using a Chromecast.

  • Display videos, act names, interactive elements, and more.
  • If there is a last minute running order change, Showtime will automatically update what’s on the screen.
  • Show the lineup at the end of the night and drive social media follows.

Act timer

A simple web page that can be displayed on an iPad, Android tablet, laptop, or any other device that can display a web page.

  • Tells the MC the name of the act who’s coming next.
  • Countdown timer for acts so they have no excuse not to run their light.
  • Display messages to the host during the show from production.

Lights

Showtime can control any venue lights. Using the standard DMX protocol, you can trigger scene changes, effects and more.

  • Control everything, from LED uplighters behind the stage to moving head lights, venue festoons and more. Elevate your production with fully automated sequences, without needing to be an expert in lighting design.
  • Pre-show lighting effects can be synced to music.
  • Trigger Philips Hue and other smart lighting through web hooks.
  • Use pre-programmed scenes, or plug in a MIDI desk to trigger manually.
  • New to DMX? See how it works ↓

Audience polls

In the interval the TVs ask the room a question, with a QR code. People scan it and answer on their phones, and the results go up on the TVs after the interval.

  • The number of answers counts up on the TVs while the poll is open.
  • Mailing list sign-ups come in during the interval, and Showtime ticks off each one.

Cameras

Modern cameras and switchers like the ATEM Mini are able to accept a trigger to start and stop recording from a network connection.

  • Using a third party driver, a tap of the space bar lets the camera know that the next act has started their set, so it restarts the recording.
  • Because the space bar starts and stops each set, Showtime knows exactly when each comedian’s set began and ended.

How Showtime fits your setup

Tell us what your venue already has, and we’ll show what you can use straight away and what’s worth buying.

Is there a screen the audience can see?
Do you have a spare device for the act timer?
What lights does the venue have?
How do you play music?
Do you record the shows?
Would you like physical buttons to run the show?

Venues

Popup venues

When you’re only running a show in a space occasionally, using their full lighting desk can be inappropriate. Simply swap the DMX cable from their existing desk into your USB to DMX converter, run the show, then put everything back after. You can control their lights without changing anything on the fixtures.

  • Everything fits in a bag: laptop, converter, cables.
  • Put act names on their TV with one HDMI cable.
  • Open the act timer on any tablet or phone.

Full time comedy clubs

Run loads of automations, and make every show feel really special and highly produced.

  • Every cue sets the lights, music, screens and timer in one press.
  • Loop the logo, drink specials and countdown on your TVs before the show.
  • Record every set, run interval polls, and grow your mailing list.

Festival venues

Running a temporary venue at a festival has all sorts of challenges: tight budgets, and lots of users of the venue. With Showtime, acts who book your space can create complex lighting plots without the need for a technician.

  • Rent a control kit per room, or use your own.
  • We can help build each show’s cues in its tech rehearsal.
Showtime for festival venues

How DMX works

Stage lights, a moving head and a smoke machine seen from behind, with their DMX ports and address displays, cabled to a lighting controller or a laptop. Lighting controller Lighting controller Lighting controller Showtime. PhoneControllerMIDI pad 3-pin 5-pin DMX port Address Address buttons

Glossary

Address
The number a fixture listens from, between 1 and 512. You set it on the back of the light.
ATEM Mini
A small video switcher that can record your show, and start and stop recording when it’s told to over the network.
Channel
One thing a fixture can do, like how red it is or how far it tilts. Each channel takes a value from 0 to 255.
Chromecast
A small device that plugs into a TV’s HDMI port and shows a web page sent to it over wifi.
Cue
One step in the run sheet, like an act walking on. Each press of the space bar fires the next cue.
Cue screen
The act timer: a web page on a screen facing the stage, showing who’s next and how long the act has left.
Daisy chain
Plugging one fixture’s DMX OUT into the next one’s DMX IN, so the same data runs through every light.
DMX
The standard signal stage lights understand, carried on a cable that looks like a microphone XLR cable.
Fixture
Any light or effect, like a smoke machine, connected to DMX.
MIDI controller
A pad of physical buttons that plugs into your laptop, for firing cues and scenes by hand.
Moving head
A light that can pan, tilt and change colour, all over DMX.
Run sheet
Your show’s running order, cue by cue.
Scene
A saved look for the lights, like Pink or Blackout, set with one button.
USB to DMX converter
A box that plugs into your laptop’s USB port and sends DMX to your lights.
VFX
What we call the TV screens: whatever Showtime puts on a TV or projector.
Walk-on sting
A short burst of music as an act walks on.
Webhook
A web address Showtime calls to trigger something else, like Philips Hue lights.